Thursday, February 14, 2008
Your Morning News 2.14.08
Posted by Josh in Barack Obama, Clemens Ass, Election 2008, Hezbollah, hillary clinton, john mccain, Middle East, superdelegates
Love is in the air on this Valentine’s Day.
The Middle East loves its political instability. In what is probably the biggest story of the day, Imad Mugniyah, a top Hezbollah commander who, in the 80s, orchestrated attacks that killed hundreds of Americans, was killed in Damascus when a bomb detonated under his car. No one has taken responsibility for the killing. He has been wanted for almost 20 years and at one point had a $25 million bounty on his head from the United States Government. There is a good chance his death could spark reprisals against Israel, since many in Hezbollah are already accusing them. The Israeli government has denied they were involved.
The Democratic Candidates love their superdelegates. The Democratic primary campaign has shifted its focus to the inexactly science of courting and counting delegates. The consensus that is emerging is that Senator Obama is leading Senator Clinton by roughly 100 delegates. That is a margin that would be very difficult for Senator Clinton to make up. Despite that lead, it appears Senator Obama won’t win enough pledged delegates to win the nomination outright– he will need votes from superdelegates. This is why you see things like 2.0something Awais Khaleel, a Wisconsin superdelegate, having coffee with Chelsea Clinton and taking personal phone calls from Senator Obama.
The Democratic candidates love of superdelegates is only surpassed by their love of pandering. Both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama are putting their efforts into appealing to the working class voters they see as being key to winning in Wisconsin, Texas and Ohio. Senator Obama released an economic stimulus plan with a focus on creating and protecting working-class jobs. Meanwhile, Senator Clinton is increasingly taking the fight to Senator Obama by releasing what many consider the first negative ad of the campaign.
There is no love lost between Senator Obama and Senator McCain. Apparently the two have never really been able to stand each other and that is beginning to come out in the campaign.
Finally, Congress loves to appear powerful when issues don’t really matter. Roger Clemens yesterday testified to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that his former trainer had lied or misremembered when he said he had injected Clemens with steroids and HGH more than 40 times. Clemens has testified under oath that he never took steroids, so he could be facing criminal charges if it is proven that he did. Clemens is facing accusations by not only his former trainer, but by former teammates as well. This whole thing could have been avoided if Clemens had taken his cues from this guy and if Congress actually focused on things that mattered (hint: things not involving Roger Clemens’ ass).